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Korea Baseball Organization

Baek-Ho Kang Planning To Pursue MLB Opportunities

By Darragh McDonald | August 13, 2025 at 2:26pm CDT

Korean utility player Baek-Ho Kang has hired Paragon Sports to represent him as he plans to pursue major league opportunities, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Heyman adds that Kang will be a full free agent, not subject to the posting system.

Kang just turned 26 at the end of July. Despite his young age, he is currently in his eighth season with the KT Wiz of Korea’s KBO League. Kang debuted way back in 2018 when he was just 18 years old.

He has some good seasons under his belt, though his earlier campaigns were stronger than his more recent ones. From 2018 to 2021, he got into at least 116 games each season and stepped to the plate at least 505 times. He hit 81 home runs over that span while producing a combined .325/.408/.521 line and 145 wRC+. He won Rookie of the Year honors in 2018 and was an All-Star from 2018 to 2020.

Since then, his work has declined in both quality and quantity. Per his scouting report on The Board at FanGraphs, he “broke his toe falling down a flight of stairs before the 2022 season started, then partially tore his hamstring just a few weeks after he returned. A bout with anxiety shelved him for a month in 2023, and his season ended with an oblique tear.”

In 2022, he only got into 62 games and slashed .245/.312/.371 for a wRC+ of 86. Since then, he’s been an above-average hitter but not to his previous level. Over the 2023-25 seasons, he has a combined .276/.353/.456 line and 114 wRC+. He only got into 71 contests in 2023. He got that up to 144 last year but has only appeared in 62 games so far this year. He hit 26 home runs last year but his .289 batting average and .360 on-base percentage weren’t up to his previous level.

Perhaps MLB clubs will have differing opinions on whether Kang can get back to that higher level or not. Earlier in his career, when he was showing 20-30 home run power along with strong on-base numbers, his production was somewhat analogous to Ha-Seong Kim’s KBO years. Kim hit between 19 and 30 home runs in his final six KBO seasons. In his last two, 2019 and 2020, he slashed .307/.393/.507 for a 142 wRC+.

Kim was able to parlay that into a four-year, $28MM deal and become an effective big leaguer. He didn’t do much in 2021 but was a solid player for the next three years. From 2022 to 2024, he slashed .250/.336/.385 for a 106 wRC+ while stealing 72 bases and providing strong glovework at multiple positions. He hasn’t been in good form in 2025, though he may still be getting into game shape after recovering from shoulder surgery.

Kang won’t be as appealing as Kim in terms of his glovework, though he does provide some defensive versatility. Kang has played first base, the outfield corners and a bit at the catcher position as well.

Interest from affiliated clubs likely depends on whether they think his bat can play against MLB pitching. In October of last year, it was reported that a status check was tendered on Kang. An MLB club is required to tender a status check when interested in a KBO player, so that means at least one club was curious about Kang last winter. It was reported at that time that Kang was not interested in making an MLB move but that has apparently changed now that he’s approaching free agency.

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Korea Baseball Organization Baek-Ho Kang

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Vince Velasquez To Sign With KBO’s Lotte Giants

By Steve Adams | August 6, 2025 at 10:16am CDT

The Guardians announced this morning that right-hander Vince Velasquez will sign with the Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization for the remainder of the season. Velasquez has been pitching with Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate. His contract is being sold to the Giants, who’ll send cash back to Cleveland. Velasquez and his agents at CAA have surely negotiated a deal with the Giants that’ll pay the right-hander more than he’d have received by playing out the remainder of his minor league deal with the Guardians.

Velasquez, 33, hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2023. The Guardians selected his contract to the big league roster back in late April, but he was designated for assignment a few days later before ever getting into a game. He could’ve rejected the subsequent outright assignment after he cleared waivers, but he opted to remain with the organization.

In 81 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level this year, Velasquez has pitched to a 3.42 ERA with a strong 26.8% strikeout rate but an ugly 14.1% walk rate. Velasquez has averaged fewer than 4 2/3 innings per start, though some of that workload was limited by design. The right-hander had elbow surgery back in June 2023 and missed all of the 2024 season as a result. Cleveland didn’t push him past 4 1/3 innings in an outing until late May. Velasquez still isn’t regularly working deep into games, but he’s pitched into the sixth inning in seven of his past 12 starts and averaged five frames per start along the way.

Selected by the Astros with the 58th overall draft pick back in 2010, Velasquez has pitched in parts of nine major league seasons. He’s totaled 763 2/3 innings with a 4.88 earned run average, 24.9% strikeout rate and 9.3% walk rate in that time.

In 2025, Velasquez has gotten stronger as the season has worn on (3.17 ERA over his past 12 starts). He’s sitting 92.5 mph with his fastball — down a couple miles from his peak levels — and complementing that four-seamer with a slider, knuckle curve, changeup and sinker (in order of usage rate).

To make room for Velasquez, the Giants are slated to waive left-hander Tucker Davidson, per a report from the Chosun Ilbo (a South Korean news outlet). Davidson has pitched to a 3.65 ERA on the season, including six innings of one-run ball last night in his tenth win of the season. The team had concerns about Davidson’s lack of consistency, per the report, and opted to make a change before the KBO’s Aug. 15 postseason eligibility deadline for foreign signees (hat tip to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO).

Davidson, 29, has pitched in parts of five major league seasons between the Braves, Angels and Orioles. The lefty once ranked as one of the more promising arms in Atlanta’s system but has totaled 129 2/3 innings with a rocky 5.76 ERA in the majors.

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Cleveland Guardians Korea Baseball Organization Transactions Tucker Davidson Vincent Velasquez

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KBO’s KT Wiz Sign Andrew Stevenson

By Nick Deeds | August 3, 2025 at 8:25am CDT

Former big league outfielder Andrew Stevenson has signed with the KT Wiz of the KBO league, as noted by Jee-Ho Yoo of Yonhap News. Stevenson will make $200K for the remainder of the 2025 season.

Stevenson, 31, was a second-round pick by the Nationals back in 2015. He made his big league debut during the 2017 season and served as an up-and-down fill-in outfielder for the club for several years. From 2017 to 2020, Stevenson appeared in 139 MLB games and slashed .266/.348/.389 with a wRC+ of 96. He struck out at an elevated 27.5% clip, but walked 10.2% of the time as well with 17 extra-base hits in 236 plate appearances. That decent bat, in conjunction with Stevenson’s ability to play all three outfield spots, made him a perfectly solid bench contributor for the Nationals over the years.

He took on a larger role during the 2021 season, but his numbers took a substantial step back when he did so. Across 109 games and 213 plate appearances that year, Stevenson hit a paltry .229/.294/.339 with a wRC+ of just 70. While he slugged a career-high five homers, his overall power numbers dropped. What’s worse, his strikeout rate ticked up to 28.6% while is walk rate plummeted to just 6.1%. Stevenson’s expected numbers were slightly better than his actual production that year, but he was still clearly a below-average bat overall. He remained with the Nats headed into the 2022 season but was outrighted to the minor leagues early in the year and spent the entire season at Triple-A before electing free agency that November.

Since then, Stevenson has caught on with the Twins, for whom he made a 25-game cameo in 2023 to lackluster results, and then headed overseas to play for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in Japan’s NPB. His time with the Fighters generally went quite poorly, however, and he returned to North America in 2025. He’s split the 2025 campaign between the Mexican League’s Piratas de Campeche and the Triple-A affiliate of the Rays in Durham while posting excellent numbers for both clubs.

Those numbers clearly seem to have gotten the attention of the Wiz in South Korea. He’ll now head overseas once again in hopes of following in the footsteps of former big leaguers who made names for themselves in the KBO league like Matt Davidson and Guillermo Heredia. The KBO places strict limits on the number of foreign-born players a team can roster, making those handful of available roster spots fairly competitive. Former Pirates prospect (and son of longtime Expos reliever Mel Rojas) Mel Rojas Jr. was released from the Wiz’s roster in order to make room for the addition of Stevenson. Rojas is a former KBO league MVP, but has struggled somewhat in his age-35 campaign with a pedestrian .239/.333/.426 slash line.

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Korea Baseball Organization Transactions Andrew Stevenson Mel Rojas Jr.

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KBO League’s KT Wiz Sign Patrick Murphy, Release William Cuevas

By Mark Polishuk | July 12, 2025 at 7:47am CDT

The KT Wiz of the Korea Baseball Organization announced that they have signed right-hander Patrick Murphy to a deal worth $277K.  Right-hander William Cuevas was released in the corresponding move to open up an international roster spot.  (Hat tip to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net.)

Murphy had been pitching for the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate, but he was released from his minor league contract earlier this week, likely with this KBO deal already lined up.  This is the second time Murphy has headed overseas to pitch, as he had a 3.26 ERA over 38 2/3 innings in Japan with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2024.  He followed that performance up with a return to North America and a 3.18 ERA in 22 2/3 frames with Triple-A Round Rock, though with a 16.8% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate providing some less-inspiring peripherals.

With a promotion to the big leagues not looking too likely, the 30-year-old Murphy will now instead to South Korea for another chapter in a pro career that began as a third-round pick for the Blue Jays in the 2013 draft.  Murphy’s MLB career has consisted of 39 2/3 innings with the Jays and Nationals from 2020-22, and the grounder specialist has a 4.76 ERA to show for his time in the majors.  Since his last appearance in the Show, Murphy has also pitched in the Twins’ minor league system on top of his stints in NPB and with the Rangers.

Cuevas is another former big leaguer who posted an 8.06 ERA in 22 1/3 innings with the Red Sox and Tigers during the 2016-18 seasons.  He has since carved out a long career with the Wiz, including a championship ring in 2021 for the first Korean Series victory in franchise history.  Cuevas has a 3.93 ERA in 872 1/3 innings over parts of seven KBO League seasons, but a 5.40 ERA in 98 1/3 frames this season saw the 34-year-old fall out of the Wiz’s plans.  In between his two stints with the Wiz, Cuevas played in the Mexican League in 2022 and with the Dodgers’ Triple-A club in 2023.

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Korea Baseball Organization Texas Rangers Transactions Patrick Murphy William Cuevas

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Dan Straily Announces Retirement

By Nick Deeds | July 6, 2025 at 8:29am CDT

Eight-year MLB veteran Dan Straily has announced his retirement, as relayed by Codify Baseball on social media. Straily pitched for the A’s, Cubs, Astros, Reds, Marlins, and Orioles in his MLB career.

Straily, 36, was a 24th-round pick by the A’s back in 2009. He made his big league debut a few years later during the 2012 season and provided league average results for Oakland down the stretch, with a 3.89 ERA in seven starts despite allowing 11 homers in those seven outings. He returned to the Athletics rotation for the 2013 season and was now able to post league average results with matching peripherals as he pitched to a 3.96 ERA (98 ERA+) with a 4.05 FIP across 152 2/3 innings and 27 starts. That performance was impressive enough to earn Straily a fourth-place finish in AL Rookie of the Year voting that year behind Wil Myers, Jose Iglesias, and Chris Archer.

In 2014, Straily struggled a bit in seven early-season starts with the A’s and was optioned to Triple-A. That changed when Straily was traded to the Cubs alongside top prospects Addison Russell and Billy McKinney for Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel. Straily made a few appearances with Chicago, but they weren’t productive outings. The Cubs saw fit to move on from Straily following the 2014 campaign, and during the offseason he was flipped to the Astros alongside Luis Valbuena in the deal that sent Dexter Fowler to Chicago. Straily once again spent much of the 2015 season in the minors, making just four appearances in the majors for Houston while pitching to a 5.40 ERA in those outings.

Straily was traded for a third time in early 2016, when he was dealt by the Astros to the Padres for Erik Kratz. San Diego promptly designated Straily for assignment, but was plucked off waivers by the Reds and managed to stick in the big leagues with Cincinnati. The righty had arguably the best season of his career with the Reds as he pitched to a 3.76 ERA in a career-high 191 1/3 innings of work. While Straily’s home run rate held back his peripherals (4.88 FIP), he was the exact sort of reliable, innings-eating arm a rebuilding club like the Reds needed.

The fourth trade of Straily’s career came after his strong 2016 season, when the Marlins sought to acquire some rotation depth and surrendered a package of talent headlined by eventual Reds ace Luis Castillo to acquire him. Straily pitched two seasons at the back of Miami’s rotation, with a 4.20 ERA and 4.79 FIP across 304 innings of work. He was released by Miami shortly before Opening Day 2019 and latched on with the Orioles, for whom he struggled to provide results across 47 2/3 innings before being designated for assignment in June of that year.

Straily’s stint with the Orioles was the end of his time in the majors, but it was by no means the end of his professional career as a player. The righty went overseas to the KBO League and went on to make 89 starts for the Lotte Giants with a 3.29 ERA in 503 innings of work from 2020 to 2023. He made brief stateside returns in 2022 and ’24 with the Diamondbacks and Cubs, but was unable to crack the big league roster with either club. Straily wrapped up his pro career with 32 innings of work for the Diablos Rojos del Mexico of the independent Mexican League this year, and exits baseball with a lifetime 4.19 ERA across 2351 1/3 innings of work between the major, minor, and foreign leagues he participated in. We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Straily on a fine career and wish him all the best in his post-playing pursuits.

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Baltimore Orioles Chicago Cubs Cincinnati Reds Houston Astros Korea Baseball Organization Miami Marlins Oakland Athletics Dan Straily Retirement

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KBO’s Samsung Lions Sign Gerson Garabito

By Anthony Franco | June 18, 2025 at 11:09pm CDT

The Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization announced the signing of right-hander Gerson Garabito (h/t to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO). Texas released Garabito last week, which Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News reported at the time was to facilitate his signing in the KBO. The Lions recently released righty Denyi Reyes, who suffered a stress reaction in his right foot (link via Yonhap’s Jeeho Yoo).

Garabito, 29, worked in low-leverage relief for Texas over the past two seasons. He combined for a 5.77 earned run average through 34 1/3 innings. The 6’0″ righty was also hit hard this year at Triple-A Round Rock. Garabito allowed an 8.53 ERA while averaging just over three innings across 10 starts. There’s very little in this season’s production to find encouraging, but he managed a 3.42 ERA across 55 1/3 Triple-A frames a year ago.

Reyes’ tenure in Korea comes to a disappointing end. The 28-year-old pitched fairly well for the Lions in 2024, working to a 3.81 ERA across 26 starts. That was up slightly over 10 starts this year before he suffered the foot injury. He’s a free agent and might look for a minor league opportunity to return to affiliated ball. Reyes made 12 MLB appearances with the Orioles and Mets between 2022-23.

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Korea Baseball Organization Transactions Denyi Reyes Gerson Garabito

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KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes Sign Stone Garrett

By Mark Polishuk | June 7, 2025 at 8:32am CDT

The Kiwoom Heroes of the KBO League have signed outfielder Stone Garrett.  Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News writes that Garrett will make roughly $35K on a short-term contract, as Garrett is joining the Heroes as an injury replacement for fellow outfielder Ruben Cardenas.  A right flexor injury will sideline Cardenas for roughly the next six weeks, which provides some idea as to the eventual length of Garrett’s stay with the South Korean team.

This isn’t Garrett’s first trip overseas, as he played 39 games with the Sydney Blue Sox during the 2016-17 Australian Baseball League season.  It was an excursion during Garrett’s time in the Marlins’ farm system, though it wasn’t until he joined the Diamondbacks as a minor league free agent in 2021 did Garrett get onto a path to the majors.  He made his MLB debut with Arizona in 2022, then received semi-regular action with the Nationals in 2023 before appearing in just two big league games with the Nats last season.

Garrett has hit .276/.341/.492 over 361 plate appearances in the Show, though a whopping .369 BABIP and a 30.2% strikeout rate undermine what is a very impressive set of bottom-line numbers.  Most (271) of Garrett’s 361 career playing time came with Washington in 2023, but that season ended in late August after Garrett broke his left ankle and fractured his left fibula after crashing into the outfield wall in pursuit of a home run.

Understandably, Garrett hasn’t looked quite in the same in the aftermath of such a major injury.  He hit .249/.348/.333 over 302 combined PA with the Nationals’ Double-A and Triple-A affiliates in 2024, and he was hitting only .087/.176/.130 in his first 51 trips to the plate with Triple-A Rochester this season when the Nats released Garrett in late April.  According to Yoo, Garrett was on the verge of signing with a Mexican League team before joining the Heroes.

Though Garrett might only be a fill-in for Cardenas, a quality stint in the KBO League could get Garrett’s career back on track, and perhaps line him up for another contract in either a foreign league or with an MLB organization.  Garrett is still just 29 years old and he has two years of minor league options remaining, so that status might draw some particular interest from big league clubs looking for roster flexibility.

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Korea Baseball Organization Transactions Stone Garrett

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Jiman Choi To Begin South Korean Military Service; Eyes KBO Debut In 2027

By Nick Deeds | May 4, 2025 at 3:12pm CDT

Former big league first baseman Jiman Choi is returning to his home country of South Korea to begin 21 months of mandatory military service, according to a report from Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The eight-year MLB veteran hopes to continue his playing career with the Korea Baseball Organization in 2027, once he has completed that conscripted service.

Since 1957, male citizens of South Korea between the ages of 18 and 35 have been required to complete between 18 and 21 months of military service. Topkin notes that the soon-to-be 34-year-old veteran was able to delay his military service until the age of 37 due to his status as a legal permanent resident of the United States. This status allowed Choi to sign with the Mariners back in 2010 and begin a baseball career stateside. Choi made his MLB debut during the 2016 season as a member of the Angels and briefly appeared for the Yankees and Brewers before arriving in Tampa and breaking out with the Rays during the 2018 season.

Choi was a quality piece for the Rays across his five seasons with the club, slashing .245/.352/.431 (120 wRC+) in 414 games with the organization. Among players with at least a full season of playing time in Tampa during Choi’s time with the club, that wRC+ ranks sixth behind only Tommy Pham, Brandon Lowe, Randy Arozarena, Yandy Diaz, and Austin Meadows. Choi’s time with the Rays coincided with four years of the club’s five-season stretch of consecutive postseason appearances, and his performance in 29 playoff games for those clubs was very impressive. Choi slashed .221/.398/.412 in the playoffs with the Rays overall, including a .250/.412/.425 slash line during the team’s run to the World Series in 2020.

Choi was traded to the Pirates in November of 2022 and split his 2023 campaign between Pittsburgh and San Diego. Unfortunately, the then-32-year-old veteran struggled to a lackluster .163/.239/.385 slash line that year while being limited to just 39 games by injuries. He signed a minor league deal with the Mets prior to the 2024 campaign but was once again hampered by injuries and eventually departed the organization in June of last year. Choi has not played in affiliated ball since, and now he’s set to leave MLB behind.

While Choi has his eyes on participating in his home country’s KBO league to continue his playing career, there will be obstacles to that goal. The first is his aforementioned military service. Topkin notes that Choi is set to have a non-combat role (rather than serving in the active South Korean military) and will be able to continue baseball workouts and training when not working, but it’s worth noting that the veteran will be 36 years old when he’s first eligible to suit up for a KBO team.

Also, Choi won’t be a free agent as he enters the KBO, since he is still restricted by the league’s draft rules. It’s unclear whether a KBO team will have interest in drafting a slugger in his mid-thirties with a lengthy injury history, but it is worth noting that former big leaguers like Shin-Soo Choo and Hyun Jin Ryu have gone to the KBO after their MLB careers and played into their late 30s and early 40s. Across the KBO league’s 10 teams this year, 35 players are playing in their age-36 season or older, giving some reason for optimism that Choi will be able to leverage his pedigree of MLB success into a role with the league two years from now.

Regardless of what happens with the future of his playing career in South Korea, Choi departs MLB a lifetime .234/.338/.426 hitter across 525 games in the majors. MLBTR congratulates Choi on a fine MLB career and wishes him all the best in his upcoming service, eventual return to his playing career, and any additional future endeavors.

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Korea Baseball Organization Ji-Man Choi

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Ryan McBroom Signs With KBO’s SSG Landers

By Nick Deeds | April 20, 2025 at 8:05am CDT

The SSG Landers of the Korea Baseball Organization have signed former big league outfielder Ryan McBroom, as noted by Dan Kurtz of MyKBO. McBroom is set to make $75K while he serves as an injury replacement for outfielder Guillermo Heredia. Heredia is sidelined by an infection that’s expected to keep him out of action for at least the next six weeks. Typically, KBO teams can roster only three foreign players, but the league has an exception to that rule for players tasked with temporarily replacing a foreign player who suffered an injury that will keep them out of action for six weeks or longer. McBroom is joining SSG under this exception, and once Heredia is healthy and ready to return he’ll either need to be removed from the roster and placed on waivers or permanently replace one of the club’s other foreign players.

McBroom, 33, was a 15th-round pick by the Blue Jays in 2015 who made it to the majors with the Royals during the 2019 season. He ultimately played just 66 games in the majors across parts of three seasons, though he did feature prominently on Kansas City’s bench during the shortened 2020 season. That was the best campaign of his career in some ways; while he hit just .247 with a .282 on-base percentage, he slugged six homers and three doubles in just 85 trips to the plate while backing up Alex Gordon and Hunter Dozier in left field and at first base.

Overall, McBroom hit a roughly league average .268/.322/.427 in 177 trips to the plate in the majors before being released by the Royals in November of 2021 to pursue a career in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. McBroom signed on with NPB’s Hiroshima Carp for the 2022 season and ultimately spent two seasons with the club. While he hit an impressive .272/.352/.442 in 128 games during his first year of NPB play, 2023 did not go nearly as well. He scuffled to a subpar .221/.305/.354 line across 70 games before returning to the United States for the 2024 season to play in the independent Atlantic League for the Long Island Ducks. McBroom excelled in indy ball across 88 games, hitting .268/.376/.497 with 19 homers and 15 doubles in just 375 plate appearances.

That strong work with the Ducks seems to have caught the attention of SSG, and now McBroom will get the opportunity to prove himself in the KBO for at least the next six weeks. If he hits well enough, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the outfielder stick around in Korea, whether that ends up being with the Landers or a different KBO club that’s willing to part with one of its current foreign players in order to roster McBroom.

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Korea Baseball Organization Transactions Ryan McBroom

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Padres Sign Kyle Hart

By Steve Adams | February 13, 2025 at 9:59am CDT

The Padres announced Thursday that they’ve signed lefty Kyle Hart to a one-year deal with a club option for the 2026 season. He’ll be guaranteed $1.5MM, per FanSided’s Robert Murray, coming in the form of a $1MM salary and a $500K buyout on a $5MM club option for the 2026 season. He can boost the value of that option to $7.5MM based on escalators tied to games started. According to The Associated Press, the option price would climb by $250K if Hart reaches 18 starts this year, $500K at 22 starts, $750K at 26 starts, and $1MM if he starts 30 games. There’s also a $250K assignment bonus in the event that he’s traded, MLBTR has learned.

Hart, a client of NPG Sports, enjoyed a breakout showing in the Korea Baseball Organization in 2024 and has drawn big league interest throughout the winter. He’s the second starter the Friars have added in as many days, as San Diego also came to terms on a four-year, $55MM deal with Nick Pivetta last night.

Hart, who turned 32 in November, was torched for 19 runs in 11 innings with the 2020 Red Sox, his lone MLB experience to date. He has a fairly nondescript 4.36 ERA in 334 2/3 Triple-A frames as well, but a move overseas and some changes to his pitch repertoire unlocked new reason for optimism.

Brandishing a new sweeper, a heavier reliance on his changeup and using his four-seamer more at the top of the zone in South Korea, Hart broke out with a 2.69 earned run average over 26 starts for the KBO’s NC Dinos. He racked up 157 innings, fanned 28.8% of his opponents and issued walks at a 6% clip. That performance earned him the Choi Dong-won Award — the KBO equivalent of MLB’s Cy Young Award.

Hart now joins fellow newcomer Pivetta and holdovers Dylan Cease, Michael King and Yu Darvish in San Diego’s rotation mix. He could have to compete with Matt Waldron, Jhony Brito and Randy Vasquez for that fifth spot behind the four established veterans, but Hart at the very least seems like the front-runner to land that job.

It’s always possible that a trade changes the calculus, but the minimal 2025 commitments to Hart ($1.5MM), Pivetta ($4MM), Jason Heyward ($1MM) and Connor Joe ($1MM) over the past week have addressed several needs at bargain prices — at least for this year. (Pivetta will earn $19MM in 2026, $14MM in 2027 and $18MM in 2028.) Both Cease and King have popped up on the rumor mill this winter — Cease in particular — but as of this morning the Padres are reportedly planning to hold onto both. That can be revisited at the deadline if the season doesn’t play out as hoped. For the time being, the recent slate of cost-effective pickups seems to have filled various needs within the (very) tight confines of the payroll limitations president of baseball operations A.J. Preller has been navigating throughout the winter.

The additions of Hart, Pivetta, Heyward and Joe over the past week have pushed San Diego’s payroll to a projected $207MM, per RosterResource. That’s an increase of nearly $40MM over last season’s end-of-year mark. The Friars have a projected $259MM worth of CBT obligations as well, placing them a hefty $18MM over the $241MM luxury threshold. However, since they reset their penalty level when they ducked under the tax line in 2024, they’ll be faced with only the minimum penalty: a 20% tax on their current overages. That’s about $3.6MM in penalties right now, and it’s possible trades of players other than Cease/King could yet reduce the bill. The Padres have been open to offers on reliever Robert Suarez, and they’d surely be open to offers on left-hander Wandy Peralta or infielder Jake Cronenworth, too, if it meant shedding a notable chunk of either player’s contract.

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Korea Baseball Organization San Diego Padres Transactions Kyle Hart

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    Tanner Houck To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Yankees Release Marcus Stroman

    Cubs Release Ryan Pressly

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    Recent

    Diamondbacks Select Nabil Crismatt

    Reds Designate Jake Fraley For Assignment

    Cardinals Place Victor Scott II On IL, Select Nathan Church

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